Reaktor Instruments

My Reaktor Instruments

These are some of the instruments I have made using a modular synthesis and sampling program called Reaktor. I now use this program to make all of my electronic music. The ‘sharing culture’ where people upload their wierd and wacky creations to the NI website is one the biggest attractions of the program.

You can download these software instruments (or ensembles as they’re called) along with a thousand others, at the Native Instruments website.

Of course, you will need the program to use them.

INIT Dinger
This instrument was originally intended as a homage to Microstoria, as the name suggests.

There is a particular characteristic of the Microstoria sound that I’m very attracted to: a sharp attack, then a long swell. The idea was to have a superior envelope (the sharp attack) and an inferior envelope (the long swell). There is also a section that creates insect-type noise and interference.

Strangely, the synth has ended up sounding like 50’s music concrete and early synthesis largely due to the sine tones, ring modulation and slapback echo.

The Ticklish Ensemble (not downloadable)
Along with Stella A’Nayes, this is what I use in Ticklish. It features 2 ‘beat loop’ cross-fadable samplers, a granulizer for fragmenting the sound and various filters. A third beatlooper is connected to a resonator - so I can create chords and conventional tones from natural sounds, a bit like using a vocoder. All elements pass through a gated sequencer for rhythmic thrills.

Stella A’Nayes
The idea with Stella A’Nayes was to build a synth with all the qualities I liked, for instance, tremelo, portemento, vibrato and modulated (automated) distortion. Special attention was paid to the way the sound is mixed within the instrument, hence the crossfading between twin oscillators and simple controls throughout.

Finally, a randomized, gated sequencer was added, (modified by Phil Durrant from an old ensemble by Sigmar Kreie) ala the Ticklish ensemble.

I’ve never really liked synthesizers that go ‘SWISH” or make that ‘BZZZOING” sound. The effect I’m talking about, in technical terms, is the sound of a filter sweeping through the frequency range by way of a low frequency oscillator.

In a way, Stella sounds like a cross between an organ and a synthesizer but is capable of experimental sounds as well.

Indigestion
This is an automated machine that drones and makes random, burping, intestinal sounds from basic synthesis. The interface has no controls whatsoever.

Wool
I’ve always wanted to make an automatic, random, harmonious chord machine. I wanted an alternative to the pre-prepared midi files I use in Ticklish to generate the more melodic moments. There are examples of machines in the Reaktor library that do produce random notes but few of them are to my taste. A lot of them sound like bubbly demented synths in a mad-scientist sort of way.Wool is designed to always select 4-note chords. It also has a random bass line that stays faithful to the harmony. Parabol oscillators (a bit like sine waves) were used and treated with subtle use of vibrato. The chords swell up and down and always sound harmonious and musical, even when there are dissonances in them.

I had to enlist the help of Rachmiel (one of the major Reaktor instrument designers) to produce gate signals from simple switches. Didier Laboz, another one of my favourite designers, helped out with another technical problem.

I really like the idea of designing instruments through committee via email. One isn’t always going to be able to solve the technical problems on one’s own, but you can bet your bottom dollar there will be somebody out there who can!

Gertrude
This a sequenced synthesiser with two feedbacking oscillators and a third modulating both of them.It produces mad, bubbling de-tuned sequences - but if you take time to set it up it can be used for nearly anything.

Toff Hinderer (not downloadable)
This is a sophisticated sequencer that uses ring modulation to achieve it's tonality. It can sound strangely vocal, yet synthetic and rhythmic. I have also used the Wool midi engine to generate random chords for it. You can hear this instrument used extensively on the Enter Valentino Welding track from The 'Kirby Dots' album. The odd sound of the instrument conforms to the chord sequence.

Ham on Rye
I like organs and I wanted to make a really rough, dirty sounding instrument that had both granular, broken sounds and classic Vox and Hammond sounds. I though the title was appropriate - lifted from Bukowski's autobiography.